“Show me a stock clerk with goals, and I’ll show you a future CEO.
Show me a person without goals, and I’ll show you a future stock clerk.”
~James C. Penney, as quoted by Dave Ramsey.
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Archive for August, 2007
28AugJames Penney.
After getting no responses for the past five or six weeks, I finally replaced the food in my hummingbird feeder yesterday and gave it a good cleaning.
When I got up this morning, this little guy was just outside my window…
Ethan’s name is really significant to us.
We pored through name books and family trees and finally came up with three options. But we were stuck there for the next three months. We wanted to give him a name that had some meaning, not just one that sounded nice.
Eventually, we decided on Ethan, although it was more or less just because it sounded nice. Then, less than a week after we decided on the name, I came across this passage in I Chronicles during my morning devotions, and it completely solidified the choice…
31 These are the men David put in charge of the music in the house of the LORD after the ark came to rest there.32 They ministered with music before the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon built the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem. They performed their duties according to the regulations laid down for them.
33Here are the men who served, together with their sons:
From the Kohathites:
Heman, the musician,
the son of Joel, the son of Samuel,34 the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham,
the son of Eliel, the son of Toah,35 the son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah,
the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai,36 the son of Elkanah, the son of Joel,
the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah,37 the son of Tahath, the son of Assir,
the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah,38 the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath,
the son of Levi, the son of Israel;39 and Heman’s associate Asaph, who served at his right hand:
Asaph son of Berekiah, the son of Shimea,40 the son of Michael, the son of Baaseiah, [e]
the son of Malkijah, 41 the son of Ethni,
the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah,42 the son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah,
the son of Shimei, 43 the son of Jahath,
the son of Gershon, the son of Levi;44 and from their associates, the Merarites, at his left hand:
Ethan son of Kishi, the son of Abdi,
the son of Malluch, 45 the son of Hashabiah,
the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah,46 the son of Amzi, the son of Bani,
the son of Shemer, 47 the son of Mahli,
the son of Mushi, the son of Merari,
the son of Levi.
(I Chronicles 6:31-47, emphasis mine)
In case you missed it within all those genealogies, here’s the significance of that passage and how it coincides with our life of serving the Lord right now:
- Ethan was a musician in the tabernacle.
- I’m a musician for Twelve Oaks.
- Ethan is a Hebrew name, meaning strength.
- Isaac & Rachel are both Hebrew names, meaning laughter & lovely.
- He was a Levite and one of David’s worship leaders for the nation of Israel.
- I’m not a Levite, but am the worship leader for my church.
Sometimes I get so focused on the big picture that I almost miss God’s hand in the seemingly small parts of my life. But He’s active… all the way down to a name.
For more references of Ethan in the Bible, check out BibleGateway.com.
22AugWhip it Good.
My ‘turn-around-my-health-and-get-in-shape’ patterns usually look something like this:
- Day 1. inspiration strikes, running ensues
- Day 2. euphoric running continues, eating habits improve
- Day 3. wake up tired, but still go running
- Day 4. drank a soda, motivation begins to dwindle
- Day 5. went out for pizza, forgot to run
- Day 6. what? run? …I’d rather sleep in
- Day 7. I don’t like to run on Sundays anyway.
It’s a quick trip going from top to bottom, but it almost always lasts a week, and it has always (up to this point anyway) ended with me being frustrated and feeling guilty.
In the past I’ve tried to post my running distances in blog posts, but was never that consistent. This morning, however, I found a solution: Nike has produced a ‘flash/html badge’ that updates my Nike+ stats automatically! So, check it out periodically, and when it looks like I haven’t been running in a few days, call me out on it.
I gotta whip my butt into shape!
